SACRAMENTO >> California on Monday became the first state to enshrine certain rights for transgender K-12 students in state law, requiring public schools to allow those students access to whichever restroom and locker room they want.

Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown announced he signed AB1266, which also will allow transgender students to choose whether they want to play boys’ or girls’ sports. The new law gives students the right “to participate in sex-segregated programs, activities and facilities” based on their self-perception and regardless of their birth gender.

Supporters said it will help reduce bullying and discrimination against transgender students. The bill comes as the families of transgender students have been waging local battles with school districts across the country over what restrooms and locker rooms their children can use, disagreements that have sometimes landed in court.

“We are thrilled with Governor Brown’s action today, as it further strengthens California’s position as a leader in ensuring equal access and opportunity for transgender students,” said Ron Sylvester, board chair and president of the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach.

Chris Eftychiou, spokesman for the Long Beach Unified School District, said the district has been monitoring the bill and will comply with the law.

“In the past, we have worked with transgender students and their families on a case-by-case basis to provide the facilities of their choosing, including facilities used by the gender that these students identify with,” Eftychiou said in an email.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights and the ACLU of California were among the bill’s supporters. Detractors, including some Republican lawmakers, said allowing students of one gender to use facilities intended for the other could invade the other students’ privacy.

“Students’ most intimate moments are not an appropriate place to conduct social experiments, and AB 1266 will not make California schools a safer place for students,” Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, said in a written statement on his website. “I am disapointed (sic) that Governor Brown did not stand up for California’s students and veto this ill-conceived legislation.”

Such fears are overblown, said Carlos Alcala, spokesman for the bill’s author, Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco. In general, he said, transgender students are trying to blend in and are not trying to call attention to themselves.

“They’re not interested in going into bathrooms and flaunting their physiology,” Alcala said.

He also noted that the state’s largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, has had such a policy since 2005 and reported no problems. San Francisco schools also have had a policy similar to the new law, and numerous other districts signed on in support of the legislation.

“Clearly, there are some parents who are not going to like it,” Alcala said. “We are hopeful school districts will work with them so no students are put in an uncomfortable position.”

Brown signed the bill without comment. Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, said the law “puts California at the forefront of leadership on transgender rights.”

The Gay-Straight Alliance Network said two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, have statewide policies granting the same protections, but California is the first to put them into statute and require them in all school districts.

The governor’s action was criticized by a Sacramento-based conservative organization, which said previous state law was sufficient to address the concerns of transgender students and their families. Before Brown signed AB1266, state law already prohibited schools from discriminating against students based on their gender identity.

“The answer is not to force something this radical on every single grade in California,” said Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institute. “What about the right to privacy of a junior high school girl wanting to go to the bathroom and having some privacy or after PE showering and having to worry about being in the locker room with a boy?”

She also noted that there is no accurate way to gauge the effect of such policies because no uniform data on student or parent complaints is being collected.

However, Judy Chiasson coordinator in Los Angeles Unified’s Office of Human Relations, Diversity and Equity, said such fears of privacy violations are not based in fact.

“For almost 10 years, our policy has been working out very smoothly. A lot of times people worry about things in their heads,” she said. “They fear someone is in the bathroom for voyeuristic reasons. They’re in there to do their business and get out.”

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